KENNEWICK, Wash. – School is right around the corner and the Kennewick Police Department wants to remind you to follow the rules in school zones.
The KPD’s Community Relations Officer Roman Trujillo says that around the start of school, people tend to forget about the school zones and it’s never a bad time to brush up on the rules.
“Just knowing that when school starts, there’s going to be a lot more traffic on the roadway,” said Trujillo. “A lot of parents dropping their kids off and there’s going to be a lot of kids crossing the streets.”
It’s hard to predict what kids are going to do. Officer Trujillo says it’s important to pay extra attention when driving in school zones.
“Children are very unpredictable,” he says. “They like to play games. They’re sometimes distracted.”
Ester Oatis, a teacher within the Kennewick School District and a parent says her kids used to walk to school and she made sure they were prepared.
“Be aware of the cars around you and make sure you go to the stop light in order to walk across,” said Oatis. “Don’t run through the middle, especially when there’s a lot of traffic going on.”
Officer Trujillo says the 20-mile-an-hour speed limit is there for a reason.
“The State Legislature set the speed limit at 20 miles per hour because they deemed that this is a speed that drivers can effectively stop quickly when they need to,” said Officer Trujillo.
One other thing to keep in mind is what to do if you’re behind a school bus or going in the opposite direction. So we asked Oatis if she knew.
“They put the little flag out and the cars behind them have to stop,” she says. “The ones coming behind them have to stop.”
The rule here is both cars behind the bus a supposed to stop and the cars going in the opposite direction can proceed with caution.
The same rules apply if there’s a median in the middle of the road.
Oatis says this is an excellent reminder for both parents and teachers.
“Sometimes we’re the ones riding behind the buses,” said Oatis. “So there therefore we need to know that information as well.”
In the State of Washington, you can’t suspend, reduce or waive a ticket for improperly passing a school bus and fines are doubled.
